A New Approach to Rift Kinematics During the Formation of the Black Sea Basin

As recent hydrocarbon discoveries rekindle exploration activities in the Black Sea Basin (BSB), efforts to understand the geodynamic processes that led to the formation and evolution of the basin have started to play a significant role in understanding the structural trends formed during rifting. The debate on whether the basin rifted open as one east-west oriented basin, or as two separate basins named the Eastern and Western Black Sea Basins, has been discussed in numerous models. Evidence for the two-basin hypothesis focuses on the basin's semi-parallel ridge and depression architecture, which trends NW-SE in the east and W-E in the west. Conversely, the single-basin model is supported by the correspondence between the regional structure and geodynamic rifting models, specifically those involving an asymmetrical rift pivoting on an eastern hinge caused by slab roll-back of the subducting plate located in the south of the basin.
To address existing tectonic uncertainties, we established a new structural framework for the BSB by reinterpreting 24 long-offset 2D seismic lines. These structural constraints enabled the development of two 2D computational models, allowing us to simulate the distinct kinematic evolution of the basin's western and eastern sections. Our 2D sectioned models show that rift velocities vary significantly in the east-west direction. This contradicts previous analog models showing that the formation of the BSB was related to a simple asymmetrical rift with constantly increasing velocities towards the west from a hinge point located at the eastern margin of the basin. The complex velocity changes throughout the rift axis suggest an uneven movement throughout the subduction zone that drives the back-arc rift. Ultimately, proposing a new complex kinematic history during the evolution of the rift and alternating rift velocities throughout the rift axis, provide a better understanding of the timing of all tectonic events and the final ridge depression geometry observed throughout the BSB.